Radeon cards do not have a quincux, "4XS", "6XS" or 8X anti-aliasing modes as seen on the FX5600/5200 and Ti4800SE (where supported).

Ti4800SE, and FX5600/5200 do not have 16x anisotropic filtering setting as seen on the Radeon 9500/9700.

"6XS" anti-aliasing setting used for the FX5600 for 6x anti-aliasing tests.

Results from Morrowind, Freelancer, and Age of Mythology were measured using FRAPS.

Screen captures were taken using HyperSnapDX 5.11.01.

Benchmark Numbers

Where applicable I have categorized benchmarks into a resolution group: 1024x768, 1280x1024, or 1600x1200. Each of these groups has combinations of anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering options. Unlike previous video card reviews here at AMDMB, we will only report the average number of frames per second and exclude the minimum and maximum rates.

Nomenclature

AA, Anti-aliasing

An algorithm that gives the illusion that an edge in 3D space is rendered with a finer grid than in reality (aka. "removes the jaggies"). AA is more important at lower resolutions since a rendered line has fewer pixels and therefore more jaggy. Higher the AA sampling level, the nicer and sharper edges appear, but usually at the cost of the hardware's performance.

The sharpening of textures as it recedes away from the viewer. Higher the AF sampling level, the nicer and sharper textures appear in the distance, but usually at the cost of the hardware's performance.

Notation used to indicate an anti-aliasing/anisotropic filtering pair. Example, "2x4" means that anti-aliasing is set to 2x and anisotropic filtering set to 4x.

FPS, Frames per second

The number of frames rendered by the video hardware per second. Higher the number, the smoother things appear. Ideally you want this number to be as high as possible, but in some cases consumers prefer to have higher details for a nicer image and sacrifice some performance.